Portland wins fifth straight

“Don’t try to strike everybody out,” Crash Davis said to Nuke LaLoosh in the 1988 film, “Bull Durham.”
“Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they’re fascist.”
Wednesday night at Runkle-Miller Field, there was nothing boring about a strikeout, because there were plenty of them.
South Adams High School product Dan Bollenbacher took a perfect game into the fifth inning, struck out a dozen and had plenty of run support as the Portland Rockets defeated the Fort Wayne Panthers, 9-4.
It was the second time this season Bollenbacher, who referenced the movie quote postgame, tossed four perfect innings. His effort on the bump helped Portland (7-2) push its winning streak to five games after sweeping doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
“Little sore,” the towering righty said of his outing. “Had some rough plays (in the fifth inning) but got through it.”
Bollenbacher was dealing from the start and had a little help from his defense in the first inning. First baseman Mitch Waters picked a line shot off the dirt from Drew Lunsford for the first out, and after a Bollenbacher strikeout, Keaton Sullivan grounded out to Alex Delk at third base for a clean frame.
“Mitch caught that and that set the tempo right there,” Bollenbacher said. He and his pitching teammates combined for 20 strikeouts.
The Panthers didn’t put the ball in play again until the fourth inning, after which Bollenbacher had struck out six straight batters. Lunsford led off the fourth with a soft liner to Bill Geeslin at second, then back-to-back Bollenbacher punchouts kept him perfect through 12 outs.
A leadoff error and a single marked the end of Bollenbacher’s chance at perfection. He later issued his only walk, but the hard-throwing former Starfire tallied three more strikeouts.
“Dan was unhittable,” Portland manager Randy Miller said. “He was on target. On fire. Just workmanlike. Here it is, hit it if you can. Sit down and bring the next guy. Give him a shot.
“That is the kind of domination we want from the mound.”
All the while, the Portland offense gave Bollenbacher a comfortable lead with which to work. Jagen Millspaugh hit an RBI double in the first inning and Collin Affolder followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
The Rockets scored another run in the third on a pair of Panther errors before tacking on four in the fourth.
Tristen Becker hit a single and stole second before leadoff man Dalton Tinsley snuck a rocket over the fence in right field for a two-run home run, his second of the season. Zach Tanner, Geeslin and Waters each walked to load the bases, and Millspaugh ripped a two-run single to make it 7-0 in favor of the home team.
“They make mistakes and we’ll make them pay,” Miller said. Millspaugh drove in three runs and had the only multi-hit game for the Rockets, who doubled the Panthers in the hit column, 8-4. “Two (runs) in the first, one in the second … three-nothing then Dalton hits a two-run homer and it’s pretty much in cruise mode.
“Work through it, everybody gets their turn. That’s kind of how the night went.”
Portland tacked on two more in the seventh to lead 9-0, and perhaps the Rockets got too comfortable with the lead. A host of errors — four total as Miller cleared his bench late in the game — allowed the Panthers to score four runs off in the top of the eighth off reliever Derek Thobe, a former Coldwater Cavalier. Thobe allowed four unearned runs on one hit, struck out six and walked three in three innings.
“We played a lot of people tonight,” Miller said. Nineteen of the 20 Rockets in uniform saw action on the field, and Tinsley was the only starter to play all nine innings. “Everybody got to play. We’re trying to develop a team. Those are good players, even the ones we brought in later.”
After playing seven games in the last eight days, Portland has six days off before traveling to Fort Wayne to take on Indiana Tech’s summer-league team, Northeast Kekionga.
It’s a break Miller is welcoming with open arms.
“We have some older players, they probably could use the break,” Miller said. “Our pitchers need to throw. That is my main concern but we could use the time off.
“It is our only weekend of that nature but we will enjoy it.”